Are Videos the Future of Content Marketing?
Let’s say five years down the line, would you be reading this blog or would you be watching it as videos? As online video rises, it’s an interesting question to consider.
By the end of this year, videos will be the reason for 69% of internet traffic, according to Cisco. Video demand in traffic alone will have almost tripled. Looking at the years of statistics on the subject, it’s hard to find any indicator that doesn’t indicate rapid growth.
With online videos quickly becoming the main reason for people to satisfy their information and entertainment needs, small businesses that disappoint to include them in their online marketing strategies will do so at their own risk of lowering their audience.
Online videos are the future of content marketing. Numerous studies show more than half of businesses are already making use of the medium – a quantity that’s predicted to grow as more and more people realise the potential. Nielsen claims 64% of marketers presume videos to control their strategies in the upcoming future.
When it comes to possible reach, videos are matchless. YouTube obtains more than 1 billion unique visitors each month – that’s more than any other online channel, separately from Facebook. One in three Britons watches at least one online video in a week. Videos can give you entry to all this. Videos done well can give you a piece of it. What other methods of content can do the same?
The achievement stories of videos that have gone viral are incredible. A current campaign from Volkswagen saw a threesome of its videos viewed 155 million times. If such quantities seem out of reach for businesses without 12-figure revenue streams, they at least show video’s inherent shareability. Engross viewers and they will share it with others. They will devote a longer time to your website and more time interacting with your brand. For all social media campaigns, any SEO use, videos are without a doubt one of the best tools to gain the most engagement.
It’s naturally attractive and, in an age of information excess, it’s important for smaller businesses to offer content that is easy to take in; otherwise, consumers will just move on. If a picture paints 1,000 words then 1 minute of video means 1.8 million, says Forrester’s researchers.
But are videos really imaginable for small businesses? Unquestionably. Production prices have dropped drastically in recent years and you no longer need to be an online whiz to work out how to use it. Medias such as Twitter’s Vine, with its 6-second highest clip length, have dramatically improved the opportunity for businesses on a restricted budget to get stuck in. Though, if you’re to realise an honest return on your investment, you will need to accept the following in mind.
Always contemplate the audience you are attempting to reach and confirm the video is appropriate to them. If it’s not the most suitable means of getting your message thru, you are probably killing your time.
Do not abandon social media and be sure to promote across all your social platforms. If you want to realise your video’s potential, you need to make it easy for users to locate and share it. Don’t disregard mobiles either. Ooyala has said a tenth of all videos, are viewed on mobiles and tablets and it’s a progressively important segment, with mobile phones landing 41% more share of video consumption at the end of June 2013 than at the beginning of that year.
Lastly, it’s to be creative. Not only with the videos themselves but in the campaign strategy you shape around them. As our head of marketing here at Snob Monkey likes to say, creativity wins over the price of production every time. Get that bit accurate and videos won’t just be the future of content marketing, it’ll be the future of content marketing for you.